In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee

Institute History

Description

"Cha Jung Hee was an orphan at the Sun Duck Orphanage in South Korea in the 1960s. She and the filmmaker, Deann Borshay, had nothing in common and they did not know each other personally. And yet, at age 8, just before Deann was sent to the U.S. to be adopted by the Borshay family in California, her identity was switched with Cha Jung Hee’s without anyone’s knowledge. She was given Cha Jung Hee’s name, birth date, and family history and told to keep the switch a secret. Simultaneously, through a bureaucratic sleight of hand, her previous identity was completely erased. For years, Cha Jung Hee was, paradoxically, both a stranger and also Deann’s official identity – a persona unknown, but always present, defining her life. In Precious Objects of Desire, Deann will search for Cha Jung Hee to finally put her erstwhile existence to rest by meeting her in real life and finding out how she has fared.

In the course of searching for Cha Jung Hee, the filmmaker will meet and interview a diverse selection of Korean orphans and adoptees, each with their own quests and extraordinary stories to tell. A biracial Korean-Black war orphan, shunned by Korean society, who as an adult meets potential biological siblings; twins adopted and raised in France, who speak only the French language, on their way “home” to Korea to visit their birth mother; an orphan from the North who was sent with several thousand Korean War orphans to Romania who recalls the painful post-war years and what it was like to grow up in a boarding school in Eastern Europe; and many others.

These stories will be contextualized within a history of adoptions from Korea starting with the Korean War. Together, they will illuminate how international adoptions from Korea are closely associated with U.S. military involvement on the Korean peninsula, the prosperity and optimism of American society following World War II, and Cold War politics, all of which have led South Korea to become the number one “exporter” of children overseas and the U.S. the largest “importer” of adopted children in the world.

Cha Jung Hee was an orphan at the Sun Duck Orphanage in South Korea in the 1960s. She and the filmmaker, Deann Borshay, had nothing in common and they did not know each other personally. And yet, at age 8, just before Deann was sent to the U.S. to be adopted by the Borshay family in California, her identity was switched with Cha Jung Hee’s without anyone’s knowledge. She was given Cha Jung Hee’s name, birth date, and family history and told to keep the switch a secret. Simultaneously, through a bureaucratic sleight of hand, her previous identity was completely erased. For years, Cha Jung Hee was, paradoxically, both a stranger and also Deann’s official identity – a persona unknown, but always present, defining her life. In Precious Objects of Desire, Deann will search for Cha Jung Hee to finally put her erstwhile existence to rest by meeting her in real life and finding out how she has fared.

In the course of searching for Cha Jung Hee, the filmmaker will meet and interview a diverse selection of Korean orphans and adoptees, each with their own quests and extraordinary stories to tell. A biracial Korean-Black war orphan, shunned by Korean society, who as an adult meets potential biological siblings; twins adopted and raised in France, who speak only the French language, on their way “home” to Korea to visit their birth mother; an orphan from the North who was sent with several thousand Korean War orphans to Romania who recalls the painful post-war years and what it was like to grow up in a boarding school in Eastern Europe; and many others.

These stories will be contextualized within a history of adoptions from Korea starting with the Korean War. Together, they will illuminate how international adoptions from Korea are closely associated with U.S. military involvement on the Korean peninsula, the prosperity and optimism of American society following World War II, and Cold War politics, all of which have led South Korea to become the number one “exporter” of children overseas and the U.S. the largest “importer” of adopted children in the world."

Credits

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